Once I had the frame painted and assembled I made up a mounting plate from 3 mm ply. All the connections are via a 37 way connector from the spares box so that the whole module can be easily removed from the layout to the bench if maintenance is needed.
It was a bit of ply from Eileens, some brass sections arrived taped to it so I’m glad it got used for something constructive.
A front view. I have followed the Caledonian practice of fitting a des
I managed to get things a bit further forward, the bridge is now sitting upside down on the bench. The general construction is 3mm foamboard, seems to have formed a reasonably light but stiff structure. Old sealed lead acid batteries of the type used in fire or burglar alarms make great flat sided weights.
I decided to move the roof on a bit, seems like a good idea to get the lighting in at this stage. Very simple really , just 3 copper wires with LEDs via fine wire and suitable protection resistors. The internal and canopy lights will be separately dimmable. Easier to show a couple of pics than describe it all.
Fairly fine wire, I think I’ll get away with it looking like gas pipe.
Boiler next. Hmm. I had a look at the DJH one and decided to give it a bash. Well, quite a few bashes. Removed the alignment tags which didn’t align, got it in a jig of scrap wood bits and whacked a lot of lowmelt solder at the gaps. I then filled all the bits that needed filling with lowmelt and attacked the whole thing with a variety of knives, sanders and files.
Most of the “detail” on the castings was overscale and I would have removed it anyway. So after a fair amount of work I now ha
I have had a couple of weeks sorting out a few problems on the layout. I have had some difficulty with the long crossover to the storage sidings which had decided to get themselves out of gauge a bit. Add to that a couple of other electrical problems and all in all it has taken a while to fix.
Of course getting it all sorted meant running a few trains to test it all. Which led me to improve the traverser control panel a bit. I haven’t really mentioned the traverser much, its not the
Some progress.
The nine levers have been cut from 2mm brass. The other parts are fabricated from tube and section. I used a pair of buffer springs to assist gravity on the stop block to give a positive feel to the action.
The frame made up from silhouette cut styrene, 3 ply. It will become stiffer as more is added but tests show that it is heading in the right direction. I chose a spacing of 15 mm for the levers. That gives about 28 mm as a gap for movi
